WrestleMania XXVII
WrestleMania XXVII was the twenty-seventh annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), held on April 3, 2011 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. The event was the first WrestleMania in the state of Georgia and the second to be held in Southeastern United States, following WrestleMania XXIV. The event holds the distinction of being the only WrestleMania at which no championships changed hands - counting the dark match, three championships were defended; all three were retained. WrestleMania XXVII was a joint-promotion event, with performers from both the Raw and SmackDown brands. This would be the last joint-promotion WrestleMania until WrestleMania 33 in 2017; the first brand split ended in August 2011, meaning that performers were no longer exclusive to a brand, but the brand split returned in mid-2016. The event's card consisted of eight matches, including three main matches. In the first, Edge defeated Alberto Del Rio to retain the World Heavyweight Championship in what turned out to be Edge's final televised match before his retirement one week later due to cervical spinal stenosis in his neck. The second saw The Undertaker defeating Triple H in a No Holds Barred match to extend his undefeated WrestleMania streak to 19-0. The third saw The Miz defeating John Cena to retain the WWE Championship. Tickets for the event commenced sale to the public on November 13, 2010. According to WWE's second-quarter earnings report, WrestleMania XXVII generated 1,059,000 PPV buys, up roughly 30% domestically and 15% internationally from the previous year. The event grossed US$6.6 million in revenue with 71,617 in attendance, making it the third highest grossing event in WWE behind WrestleMania XXV and the next years event WrestleMania XXVIII. It generated $62.1 million in economic impact for Atlanta, a $17 million increase from the previous WrestleMania event, and also generated approximately $7.8 million in local, state and county taxes. Production Background In September 2009, it was reported that the city of Atlanta was seeking to host WrestleMania XXVII at the Georgia Dome. Atlanta's main rival bid came from the city of Miami, Florida who proposed to host the event at Sun Life Stadium along with WrestleMania Axxess at the Miami Beach Convention Center and the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony at the American Airlines Arena. Miami would eventually become the host for WrestleMania XXVIII. Atlanta was formally announced as the site at a press conference on February 1, 2010. According to WWE's senior vice president of special events, John Saboor, Atlanta was ultimately chosen for, among other reasons, "their track record of success with large events, rich in its tradition with the WWE, and great infrastructure." The event marked the first time WrestleMania has been held in the state of Georgia. Along with WrestleMania XXVII, a series of events grouped as "WrestleMania Week" was held in the week preceding the event including WrestleMania's annual WrestleMania Axxess fan convention, the 2011 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, the fourth annual WrestleMania Art exhibition and auction, and a Celebrity Pro-Am Golf tournament. WrestleMania Axxess was held at the Georgia World Congress Center, while the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony took place at the Philips Arena. It was the first pay-per-view event under WWE's promotional rights deal with Kmart. Under the deal, Kmart will be the official sponsor for all of WWE's live events in the United States for the rest of 2011. As another part of the promotion for the event, WWE Magazine released a "Guide to WrestleMania XXVII" app for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, offering information about the upcoming event as well as trivia from past events. "Written in the Stars" by Tinie Tempah was the theme song for the event. "Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom)" by Shinedown served as the secondary theme song, while R&B singer Keri Hilson performed "America the Beautiful" at the start of the show. Celebrities and former wrestlers that appeared in WrestleMania XXVII segments include Snoop Dogg, Pee Wee Herman, Gene Okerlund, Mae Young and Roddy Piper. Storylines The professional wrestling matches at WrestleMania XXVII featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Storylines between the characters were produced on WWE's weekly television shows Raw and SmackDown with the Raw and SmackDown brands—storyline divisions in which WWE assigned its employees to different programs. The predominant rivalry for the Raw brand involved Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, John Cena and the reigning WWE Champion, The Miz. On the February 14 episode of Raw, The Rock was announced as host for WrestleMania XXVII. In his first appearance in a WWE ring in seven years, The Rock publicly mocked both Miz and Cena. At the following week's Elimination Chamber event, Cena won the Raw brand's annual Elimination Chamber match to earn himself a WWE Championship opportunity against The Miz. One night later on Raw, both Cena and Miz derided The Rock's previous comments, with Cena producing a rap questioning The Rock's true commitment to WWE over his acting career; Cena had done the same in an interview with British newspaper The Sun three years previously and thus sparked the animosity. Via satellite, The Rock responded to Cena's rap on the February 28 edition of Raw, citing that he started a movie career to help open the door for other wrestlers to go to Hollywood. On the March 28 episode of Raw, The Rock and John Cena confronted each other face to face before WrestleMania, until The Miz came out, and he and Alex Riley attacked The Rock, who managed to fight back both men. After the assault, Cena hit Rock with an Attitude Adjustment to end the show. Starting from the January 31 episode of Raw, mysterious vignettes began promoting an upcoming event on "2.21.11". On the February 21 edition of Raw, The Undertaker was revealed as the mysterious figure, who made his return after a four-month absence. However, Undertaker's return was interrupted by a returning Triple H. The two men stared each other down and both peered at the WrestleMania marquee, teasing a possible challenge at WrestleMania XXVII. The match was confirmed four days later on WWE's official website. This match marks the second time the two would face each other at a WrestleMania, the first being WrestleMania X-Seven ten years earlier. Before their WrestleMania match, both men had a face to face encounter on the March 28 episode of Raw, only to be interrupted by Shawn Michaels, who critictized Triple H for believing that he could defeat The Undertaker at the event, something that Michaels wasn't able to do. After The Undertaker said that Michaels was history, Michaels attempted to superkick him, but The Undertaker retaliated with a chokeslam that was stopped by Triple H, who then asked Michaels why he is going to defeat The Undertaker at WrestleMania. Michaels, however, left the ring, unable to give Triple H an answer, believing that Triple H couldn't defeat The Undertaker at the event. Since 1993, the winner of the annual Royal Rumble match at the January event of the same name has won the opportunity to fight for a world championship at WrestleMania. Alberto Del Rio won the match in 2011 and challenged Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship. This led to a series of assaults from Del Rio to Edge in the following weeks. However, Edge was joined by the returning Christian, who aided Edge from Del Rio and his bodyguard Brodus Clay, and proceeded to be in Edge´s corner at WrestleMania. In December 2010, Raw color commentator Jerry Lawler began a feud with fellow announcer Michael Cole when the anonymous Raw General Manager gave Lawler a WWE Championship match in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match against The Miz. As Lawler started to climb the ladder to retrieve the belt, Cole interfered and prevented Lawler from winning the match. On the February 21 edition of Raw, Cole mocked Lawler for losing his rematch against The Miz at Elimination Chamber as well as his dreams of having a WrestleMania match, going as far as even mentioning Lawler's mother who died weeks earlier. Lawler responded by challenging Cole to a match at WrestleMania, which Cole denied before running through the crowd. A week later, Cole accepted Lawler's challenge under two conditions – that his trainer Jack Swagger would be in his corner, and that he could choose a special guest referee – which Lawler accepted. The following week, Cole revealed John "Bradshaw" Layfield as the special guest referee. However, Steve Austin, who made his return that night, interfered in the contract signing by delivering a Stone Cold Stunner to JBL and signing the contract himself, thereby becoming the special guest referee himself. Cole continued to insult Lawler on the following weeks, even bringing Lawler's son Brian Christopher, who insulted Lawler, and calling him a bad father, before slapping him in the face and leaving. After that, Jim Ross, Lawler's best friend, confronted Michael Cole, and called him a "rat bastard", for what Jack Swagger attacked Ross, and later Lawler, who attempted to save Ross. Another plot building up towards WrestleMania involved CM Punk and Randy Orton. At the beginning of the year, CM Punk became the leader of The New Nexus. At the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, Punk cost Orton his WWE Championship match against The Miz. The following night on Raw, Orton retaliated by assaulting Punk's fellow New Nexus members Michael McGillicutty and Husky Harris, resulting in Harris being punted in the head. On the February 7 episode of Raw, Punk revealed that his actions were his revenge on Orton for punting him in the head at Unforgiven 2008, where Punk was unable to defend his World Heavyweight Championship due to Orton's attack and subsequently forced to vacate his title. On February 28, the anonymous Raw general manager scheduled a match between Punk and Orton at WrestleMania. In addition, the General Manager announced that Orton would face one of the members of the New Nexus throughout the following weeks. If Orton lost, his opponents would be allowed to be in Punk's corner at WrestleMania; if he won, his opponent would be banned from attending the event. Orton won all of his matches, so Michael McGillicutty, David Otunga, and Mason Ryan were all banned from ringside at the event. After each victory, Orton would punt each member in the head in order to send a message to Punk. On the March 21 episode of Raw, Punk distracted Orton during his "WrestleMania Rewind" match with Rey Mysterio and used Orton's wife as bait to lure him to the parking lot, where he attacked Orton's knee with a wrench. The following week, on the Raw before WrestleMania, both men brawled with each other, which ended after Punk performed a Go To Sleep on Orton after taking advantage of his injured knee. Another feud heading into WrestleMania was between Rey Mysterio and Cody Rhodes. On the January 21 edition of SmackDown, Mysterio and Rhodes had a match in which Mysterio broke the nose of Cody Rhodes with the 619. Rhodes, who underwent facial reconstruction surgery, later accused Mysterio of forcing him to miss the Royal Rumble match and the Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship, as well as ruining his 'dashing' gimmick. On the March 4 edition of SmackDown, Cody's father, Dusty Rhodes, came out to talk to Mysterio and asked Cody to apologize for his accusation, but it turned out to be a setup to allow Cody to attack and unmask Mysterio. The next week Rhodes challenged Rey to a match at WrestleMania, which was accepted by Mysterio. The following week, Rhodes attacked Rey again, during Mysterio's match against Drew McIntyre. However, Mysterio retailed the following week, attacking Rhodes, until Rhodes escaped the ring. On the March 14 edition of Raw, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi appeared as a guest star and exchanged insults with Vickie Guerrero backstage. Later that night, Vickie defeated Trish Stratus with the help of LayCool (Michelle McCool and Layla). After the match, Snooki, who observed the match at ringside, took down LayCool after being provoked by McCool. A brawl ensued between Snooki & Stratus and LayCool until LayCool retreated from the ring. Vickie then proposed a six-person mixed tag team match at WrestleMania between LayCool & her boyfriend, Dolph Ziggler, and Snooki, Stratus, and John Morrison which Snooki accepted. In the buildup to the match, a vignette aired, showing Snooki and Stratus in a bar, where Stratus said that they were training for their WrestleMania match. On the vignette, Snooki fought a man, and later Snooki and Stratus fought LayCool on the bar, after LayCool started mocking Snooki and Stratus. In an eight-man tag team match, The Corre (Wade Barrett, Ezekiel Jackson, Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater) was scheduled to wrestle Big Show, Kane, Santino Marella and Kofi Kingston. The Corre had been going after Big Show on SmackDown, but Big Show and Kane joined forces to beat down The Corre on Raw two weeks before WrestleMania. Later, Kane and Big Show helped Vladimir Kozlov and Santino Marella fend off an attack by The Corre. On April 2, after a WrestleMania Axxess match between Kozlov and Tyler Reks, The Corre attacked Kozlov, leaving his shoulder injured. Kofi Kingston, who recently lost the Intercontinental Championship to Barrett, was chosen as Kozlov's replacement. Aftermath The following night on Raw, John Cena and The Rock agreed to face each other in a match at WrestleMania XXVIII, marking the first time a match had been announced almost a year in advance for any WrestleMania. Later on Cena won the WWE Championship in a Triple Threat Steel Cage match against The Miz and John Morrison at Extreme Rules. The Raw after Extreme Rules, Cena defended the WWE Championship against The Miz in a singles match after being restarted due to the referee noticing interference from Alex Riley after Miz winning, and again later on in an "I Quit" match at Over the Limit against Miz. Later in a backstage segment Cena "congratulated" The Rock on his birthday, telling him to bring it on for WrestleMania while showing off the WWE Championship, implying that their match at WrestleMania XXVIII will be for the WWE Championship, continuing on with their feud. However, Cena would go on to lose the WWE title three times that year, twice to CM Punk, and once to Alberto Del Rio. In November, at Survivor Series, Cena teamed with the Rock, which would be the latter's first match since WrestleMania XX in 2004, and defeated the Miz and R-Truth, only for Rock giving a Rock Bottom on Cena after the match. The Rock defeated Cena at WrestleMania XXVIII, and, in 2013, a rematch at WrestleMania 29 took place, with The Rock's WWE Championship on the line, which saw Cena emerging victorious. On the April 11 Raw, Edge retired due to a legit neck injury, marking his last match for the company against Del Rio at WrestleMania. Edge vacated the World Heavyweight Championship on the April 12 live edition of SmackDown (replayed on April 15), therefore retiring as world champion. Christian would win the title at Extreme Rules in a ladder match against Del Rio, only to lose it at the hands of Randy Orton, on the May 6 episode of SmackDown. Following their loss at WrestleMania (not to mention failing to regain the Divas Championship), tension rose in LayCool. After two weeks of couples therapy, a bitter Michelle McCool turned on Layla, dissolving their team. Layla and McCool would face off in a match at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view with no count-outs, no disqualifications, and the loser has to leave WWE. Layla went on to win the match, resulting in McCool's subsequent - and legit - departure and released from WWE. As a consequence of using a chair shot to the head, Triple H and The Undertaker were legitimately fined by the WWE for violating the company's "concussion policy" at the event. After a ten-month hiatus, The Undertaker returned on January 30, 2012 episode of Raw to confront Triple H before challenging him to a rematch at WrestleMania XXVIII, having felt unsatisfied with having to leave victorious not under his own power. After Triple H refused despite insistence from Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker mocked him by calling him a coward and knowing that Michaels was better than him. This angered Triple H to the point that he finally accepted The Undertaker's challenge, but under the stipulation that their match be a Hell in a Cell Match. Soon after the match was made, Michaels confirmed he would officiate the match as special guest referee. Undertaker defeated Triple H at WrestleMania XXVIII with their match dubbed as an "End of an Era" and extended his Undefeated WrestleMania Streak to 20-0. After six-year hiatus on June 16, 2018, Triple H want to get the rematch against Undertaker at WWE Super Show-Down on October 6, 2018 in Melbourne, Australia. Results Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * WrestleMania Category:WrestleMania Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:2011 Pay-Per-View Events